Minnesota Parental Leave Act 2025/26: What Employers Need to Know

With the Minnesota Pregnancy and Parental Leave Act and the soon-to-launch statewide Paid Leave Program in 2026, understanding parental leave laws in Minnesota should be a key priority for local HR and payroll teams.

For growing companies, ensuring compliance while balancing business operations and employee well-being is a real challenge as regulatory requirements shift.

At Deel, we understand the nuances of managing evolving state and federal mandates, and our global experience positions us to guide businesses seamlessly through complex HR, payroll, and compliance requirements.

Here’s a breakdown of essential eligibility rules, concurrent leave requirements, funding, and actionable steps you need to take to safeguard your business and support your team.

Understanding Minnesota’s current parental leave act

The Minnesota parental leave law, also known as the Minnesota Pregnancy and Parental Leave Act, provides job-protected leave for eligible employees for reasons related to the birth or adoption of a child.

The Minnesota parental leave law provides job-protected leave, but it does not provide paid leave. Employees may be able to use accrued paid leave (such as vacation or sick leave) to receive compensation during their time off, subject to their employer's policies.

What Minnesota's parental leave law covers

Leave entitlements are per 12 months and run concurrently with any federal Family and Medical Leave entitlements.

Although the Minnesota parental leave law does not provide paid time off, the state will launch a Paid Leave program in 2026 covering family and medical leave.

Minnesota parental leave eligibility and applicability

Employee eligibility

Any employee working in Minnesota for a Minnesota employer may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave under the Pregnancy and Parental Leave Act, regardless of how long they have worked for the employer.

Employer applicability

All employers in Minnesota, regardless of size, are covered under the Minnesota Pregnancy and Parental Leave Act.

Job protection under Minnesota's parental leave law

The leave is job-protected, meaning employees are entitled to be reinstated to their same or an equivalent position upon their return from leave.

How to apply

Employees should provide their employer with at least 30 days' notice before the leave is to begin if the need for leave is foreseeable. If the leave is not foreseeable, employees should provide notice as soon as practicable.

Employers may require certification from a healthcare provider to verify the need for leave due to a serious health condition.

Minnesota Family Medical Leave and the Federal Family Medical Leave Act

The Minnesota Family Medical Leave Law and the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) run concurrently. If an employee is eligible for job-protected leave under both laws, the employee will not be entitled to consecutive unpaid leave.

Minnesota Paid Leave law

Minnesota’s Paid Leave program takes effect January 1, 2026, offering:

• 12 weeks family leave: Covers bonding with a newly born, adopted, or fostered child; caring for a family member with a serious health condition; certain military-related events; and safety leave
• 12 weeks medical leave: Covers the employee’s own serious health condition

Employees qualifying for both types of leaves can take a combined maximum of 20 weeks in one year.

Funding and benefits

The premium rate is 0.88% of the employee’s wage, up to the Social Security cap of $176,100. The contribution is split as follows:

• Employee share: 0.44%
• Employer share: 0.44%

Employers with 30 or fewer employees, whose average wages are below 150% of the state average, qualify for a reduced employer contribution rate of 0.22%. Employees at these companies still pay the standard 0.44% rate.

The maximum weekly benefit is $1,372.

Minnesota Paid Leave and the Pregnancy and Parental Leave Act

Paid Leave coexists with the Minnesota Pregnancy and Parental Leave Act. Employers may require that leave taken under the Paid Leave program runs concurrently with MPLA leave, provided both cover the same situation.

Keep compliant with Deel PEO

New to managing parental and family leave laws in Minnesota? With Deel PEO, you can offload compliance risks and processes to ensure state-specific alignment.

• Fully in-house operations for improved support and workflows
• Expert payroll administration, HR, and benefits compliance
• Exclusive Aetna International benefits plans for W2 employees travelling abroad
• Built-in compliance for local and federal coverage
• 60+ domestic benefits plans with Fortune 500-caliber benefits
• Trainings, HR policies, and on-demand HR support
• And more

To learn more about how you can use Deel PEO to scale in the US, book a 30-minute call with one of our dedicated experts.